The State government has initiated steps to deport US national Mario Paul, a boarder at the Amritanandamayi Math, who was seriously injured in a brawl with local people outside the hermitage on Saturday evening.
Doctors at the Government Medical College Hospital, where he was under treatment, said the 37-year-old resident of Florida required a brain scan to detect internal injuries if any.
Since September
Mr. Paul has been living in the math since September. The police have initiated a criminal inquiry into the occurrence. They have not named any person as accused in the case so far. The police hope to record Mr. Paul’s statement once the doctors deemed him medically fit.
History of mental illness
The administration was in touch with Mr. Paul’s parents. The US citizen reportedly had a long history of mental illness interspersed with bouts of violence often triggered by lack of medication or traumatic experiences.
The incident evoked memories of Satnam Singh, a New Delhi-based law student who sustained similar injuries in a fracas at the math in 2012. (Singh later died at a mental hospital, after being allegedly beaten by fellow inmates. His parents have demanded a CBI inquiry into their son’s plight).
Assistant Commissioner of Police, Karunagapally, S. Sivaprasad, said local people alerted the law enforcement about Mr. Paul’s “violent antics” on a busy road leading to the Math at around 8 p.m. The stretch was chock-a-block with people making a beeline for the math.
Police officers rushed to the spot and subdued him. The police said Mr. Paul was extremely violent. They counted several abrasions on Mr. Paul at the time of his detention.
Doctor’s version
District Collector, Kollam, S. Karthikeyan, who was at the spot to review the security arrangements for the President’s visit to the math on Sunday, had a psychiatrist examine Mr. Paul. The police said the doctor attributed Mr. Paul’s erratic behaviour to either mental illness or narcotic drug impairment.
The doctor injected a sedative to calm him and referred him to the MCH here.
